THE turf at Horsham City Oval will be used for the first time this season when Jung Tigers face off against Laharum in round five of Horsham Cricket Association’s A Grade on Saturday.
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Laharum captain Daniel Griffiths said his side would look forward to playing on turf after opening the season with four straight games at home.
“We can probably still improve on every aspect of our game at this point,” he said. “Our batting was a bit better on Saturday but we definitely need to lift in the field because we’ve leaked some runs in recent weeks.”
Griffiths said his side knew to be wary of Jake McLean and David Puls when they have the ball in hand.
“Jake obviously got five wickets against us last time and has been in good form,” he said. “And Pulsy is just still very reliable for them.”
The Tigers will be pleased to get an opportunity on the usually batsmen friendly City Oval wicket after a tough day against Homers in round four. Winiam all-rounder Brad Clark will come into the side along with Steve Leith to replace Connor Lawson and Dale Dridan.
Rup-Minyip will be confident it can bounce back from a tough loss against the Horsham Saints when it comes up against a struggling Blackheath-Dimboola side. Blue Panthers captain Travis Hair said the only change would be Adam Carter’s unavailability.
“We still have a lot of players out,” he said. “A lot of guys have been getting starts and not going on. If we managed to score 10-15 runs more against the Saints things would have been different.”
Hair also said he hoped to give Blake Turner and Jordan Weidemman an opportunity to bowl on Saturday.
“We had to go with the more experienced guys with the breeze blowing around a bit at the weekend,” he said.
Homers will look to maintain its unbeaten start to the season against the Saints at Sunnyside.
Captain Jarred Coombe said games against the Saints were always tough and the side expected it to be no different.
“Both sides are coming off very good wins,” he said. “We have a few tough calls to make in terms of selection before the game.”
Three players will need to make way for Sandy Hodge, Chris Hopper and Jason Kannar in the Pigeons lineup. Hodge and Jarred Combe were particularly effective with the bat when the sides met in round two while Kannar was a nusance with the ball. Ed Landwehr was notably absent from the round two contest and will add further depth to a bowling attack that strangled the Saints batting lineup.
Justtin Combe and Zac Hamerston are likely inclusions for the Saints.
